Most important reason not to charge in scanner
I just bought the PSR-500 exactly 33 days ago and have already had a melt down (literally)!!! I love the PSR-500, lets make that undestood from the start! I have been in Law Enforcement for 8 years now and have been scanning for 9. I have always bought Radio Shack scanners, not for any particular reason, and have always charged the batteries in the scanner without problem. In the past I have left my radio shack scanner plugged in for weeks at a time with rechargable batteries in it and never had a problem. I noticed with my PSR-500 that it was getting slightly warm around the battery compartment when charging from day one.
I was using Radio Shack NiMH batteries fresh from the pack and was constatnly plugging and unplugging the unit for mobile/base use. On my days off this past week, I got a little busy working on several projects and left the scanner plugged into the provided 9V power supply at home with the scanner sitting on my desk. When I unplugged the unit at the end of the second day, just over 48 hrs of being plugged in, I noticed that the unit would not turn on. I checked the batteries for a loose connection but when I turned the unit over I immediately noticed that the battery cover was warped on the sides. I quickly took the cover off to find that the yellow battery holder had heated to the point that it had formed around the batteries to the point they would not come out, the batteries were corroded, and top part of the scanner casing (just above the metal contacts) had melted.
I have contacted GREcom and they are setting up an RMA to have their techs look at the scanner for a problem. I read the entire manual before calling the company to see what I might have missed that would void my warranty and, to my surprise, could not find anything. No where in the manual does it mention that you can not leave rechargable batteries in the unit conrinously while plugged into an AC source, nor does it tell you that the charge circuit is active without being on.
I would like to reiterate that I have been scanning for many many years, I have exstensive electronic knowledge, and ALWAYS read the inital setup portion of manulas before operating expensive electronics like this $500 scanner. While GREcom has not refused at this point to refurbish or replace my month old product, I am trying not to get my hopes up since I was told that they have only had one other instance remotely close to mine and that one ended up with operator error as he placed the batteries in backwards. I guess the item will be on its way to the factory for inspection with the still corroded batteries in the melted yellow holder soon and I will try to post with their findings asap.
PLEASE head everyone's advice on this thread and take the time to charge your batteries seperately to avoid any damage to your unit. My guess is that we can be expecting a firmware upgrade regardless of their findings with my unit as NO charging citcuit should be based 100% on timers and 0% on current charge level. I have spoken with several people that have worked on RadioShack scanners who stated that their charge cycle appears to operate off of the charge level due to this issue alone.
Once again, this issue aside, I love the operational functions of the PSR-500 and; assuming this issue it fixed under warranty; I will continue to refer this brand of digital scanner!